Review: Bob’s Burgers ‘Presto-Tina-O’

Spoilers Below

Magic was in the air during this week’s Bob’s Burgers, as a magician stopped by the restaurant, to the delight of Bob, Linda, and the kids (minus Louise). At first, the family enjoyed having the illusionist and his associates around the joint, but their act soon became tiresome. Meanwhile, Tina attempted to be a worthy magician’s assistant to Jimmy Jr. for the upcoming magic competition, but he was only concerned with prancing about on stage like Gob from Arrested Development, and impressing girls not named Tina. In the end, it took the combination of both their skills to truly succeed.

The abundance of screentime given to the children was advantageous to the show’s humor – as always…including the beginning scene where Bob acted like a giddy child around the magician & an appearance by Andy and Ollie. Gene got in good lines about Delaware being a place he could never possibly imagine, and that magician’s assistants “should be sequined and not heard.” And all three siblings contributed to a particularly funny joke, when – while in a magic shop – Tina said, “I’ll just take the straightjacket.”

“Not the last time she’ll say that,” Louise quipped, while Gene added: “It’s our family motto!”

Even some random kid (the winner of the competition) got in a good line when he tore & restored the prize money and shouted, “I can’t turn it off! Thank you!”

You know what? I’m going to be candid for a second. I feel like the above paragraphs are more than enough justification for giving this episode a very favorable grade, because I think of the aforementioned reasons are simply icing on the already delicious cake that is the true reason this installment succeeded: it’s a Tina-centric episode.

I used to think I was crazy for loving this show for the awkward eldest daughter character. Sure, I like it a lot for many reasons, but I truly love it because of Tina Danger (spelled R-U-T-H) Belcher. I love her obsession with butts, her erotic friend fiction, kinky zombie dreams, nervous confidence, and adorable attempts to be an adult. I also love her love for Jimmy Jr., although I must say he really treated her like crap at times during this episode, and that kind of pissed me off.

Anyway, I said I used to think I was crazy for this, because after I went to NY Comic Con, I realized almost everyone had been cast under the same spell. Dan Mintz, the incredibly talented voice behind Tina (who is actually just using his normal voice) could not get a single sentence – over even word! – out of his mouth without inducing waves of joyful laughter throughout the massive audience.

So be it a few hysterical lines (like “A sexy ketchup factory?” in Season 1, Episode 5 – “Hamburger Dinner Theater) or an entire Tina episode (like Season 2, Episode 8’s “Bad Tina” – one of my personal favorites) Tina can easily make any episode wildly amusing, hilarious, and popular.

I’d also like to give a nod to the Bob’s Burgers music department. The unique background songs that are dreamed up every episode – always containing relevant lyrics – really aid in separating this show from the pack.

Oh, and in case you missed it, the Burgers of the Day were brilliantly matched to the episode’s plot and Bob’s changing views on magic. It started with “Is This Your Chard Burger,” which changed to the “Caper Magic to Yourself Burger,” and eventually ended with the “I Don’t Bay Leaf in Magic Burger.”

There. Is that enough for ya?